[June 13, 2014]The St. Louis Cardinals have
received some spectacular starting pitching over the past week and they
may need it to continue when the Washington Nationals come to town for a
three-game series beginning Friday night. The Cardinals had a string of
three consecutive shutouts snapped with a 6-3 loss at Tampa Bay on
Wednesday and now open a 10-game homestand. "Our starting pitching has
been extremely good these last few, to say the least," St. Louis manager
Mike Matheny said.

Washington's starting pitching hasn't been too shabby either,
registering 12 consecutive quality starts before dropping the finale
of a four-game series in San Francisco on Thursday. The Nationals
took three of four from the National League West-leading Giants and
have used a 10-3 run to surge to the top of the NL East. The teams
split a four-game series in Washington in April, but the Cardinals
permitted only four runs in a three-game home sweep of the Nationals
in September.

Zimmermann carries a 18-inning scoreless streak into Friday's start
and is coming off a dazzling performance, recording a career-high 12
strikeouts in a two-hit shutout at San Diego. That followed eight
scoreless innings of five-hit ball against Philadelphia in the
previous start for the 28-year-old Zimmermann, who was 19-9 last
year. Zimmermann has been tormented by St. Louis, going 0-4 with a
7.03 ERA in seven career starts.

Lynn has lost back-to-back starts since a five-hit shutout of the
New York Yankees on May 27, getting shelled for seven runs (four
earned) by San Francisco and struggling through five innings in a
3-1 loss to Toronto last time out. Lynn has permitted three runs or
fewer in 10 of 13 starts but is 2-4 since winnning his first four
decisions. He beat the Nationals on April 19, allowing one run on
five hits in 5 2/3 innings.